Kelly's dance performance went very well (she wouldn't put in in those terms, but I saw it from the audience's perspective.) She felt a bit dizzy during the dance, but it didn't show. It looked very well practiced (as it should, as they've been working on it for some time) and the whole troupe was together. I got some soundless clips so that you can get a taste of it. I think the veil part of the routine looked particularly good, so we put a bit of that on.
Rus and the rest of Maxed Out Puppetry performed at the Salt Lake Library's "No Strings Attached Puppet Festival" on Saturday. I think it was one of their better performances (and that's saying something). They did the best version of the "Yankee Doodle" sketch that I've seen, and all the timing and delivery in the rest of the show was spot on. It was fun to sit in the audience and watch all the kids laugh their heads off. A couple of the older kids in the audience were overheard after the show saying "That was hilarious!!" As as added bonus two of our friends from the Foreign Language Dorms came to the show; it was great to see them. Puppet pics:
Top: The troll protecting the cheese factory by slapping maurading mice with a fish; Middle: Jon explains to Davis that "riding on a monkey, stuck a feathre in his hat and then he danced real funky" is not part of Yankee Doodle; Bottom: Ollie proclaims his predeliction for Mayonnaise to Mary Jane.
(Rus here now--I had a somewhat surreal experience, as after our performance, we watched some marionette theater for which I had pre-recorded two of the characters' voices. Watching puppets on stage speak in your own voice is, in a word, weird. But it was fun.)
We moved our juvenile frog, Hiro, from his little tank to a larger one in the living room, and he has been growing so fast you can almost see a difference every day. He loves to beg for food, leaping halfway out of the water in his enthusiasm. The kids like to watch him eat...so I expect his growth spurt to continue unabated for some time.
Here's a picture from a couple of days ago. For perspective, that's half of a coconut shell under him. When he transformed from a tadpole, he was about a centimeter long.)
We went grocery shopping on Friday. Isaac saw a sign that said "navel oranges," and he exclaimed in a somewhat disgusted tone, "Belly button oranges?!?!"
Overheard from Xander-- (While putting on his pajamas) "When you stretch out one or both of your arms to pick up something, your armpits are vulnerable."
The two girls enjoyed picking out their new leotards and ballet slippers for their class, which starts Tuesday.
Laurelin has settled back into school quite nicely, and has been busy searching out math problems to practice writing down. It's always interesting to watch your children develop; While certainly not lacking the imaginative side that her brothers have shown thus far, Laurelin also seems to have a mind suited to things like math and engineering.
While Laurelin, Gwen, and I were examining an aquarium in the living room, we were counting
Hydra. (For those who do not remember these from biology class, they're a small freshwater cousin of a sea anemone.) I explained to Gwen that I did not really want them in the tank, as they caused problems. She immediately proposed a solution: "We can throw them into the Mariana Trench!"
(I wonder whether she really knows what the Mariana Trench is...but her brothers incessantly discuss the leviathans, both real and invented, that they suspect inhabit the area, so that must be where she got it.)
